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The Hindus : an alternative history

A narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, this book elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account: many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated; its central tenets--karma, dharma, to name just two--arise at particular moments in Indian history and differ in each era, between genders, and caste to caste; and what is shared among Hindus is overwhelmingly outnumbered by the things that are unique to one group or another. Yet the greatness of Hinduism--its vitality, its earthiness, its vividness--lies precisely in many of those idiosyncratic qualities that continue to inspire debate today. Wendy Doniger, one of the world's foremost scholars of Hinduism, illuminates those moments within the tradition that resist forces that would standardize or establish a canon.--Publisher description.Read more...

The man or the rabbit in the moon --
Working with available light --
Time and space in India : 50 million to 50,000 BCE --
Civilization in the Indus Valley : 50,000 to 1500 BCE --
Between the ruins and the text : 2000 to 1500 BCE --
Humans, animals, and gods in the Rig Veda : 1500 to 1000 BCE --
Sacrifice in the Brahmanas : 800 to 500 BCE --
Renunciation in the Upanishads : 600 to 200 BCE --
The three (or is it four?) aims of life in the Hindu imaginary --
Women and ogresses in the Ramayana : 400 BCE to 200 CE --
Violence in the Mahabharata : 300 BCE to 300 CE --
Dharma in the Mahabharata : 300 BCE to 300 CE --
Escape clauses in the Shastras : 100 BCE to 400 CE --
Bhakti in South India : 100 BCE to 900 CE --
Goddesses and gods in the early Puranas : 300 to 600 CE --
Sects and sex in the Tantric Puranas and the Tantras : 600 to 900 CE --
Fusion and rivalry under the Delhi sultanate : 650 to 1500 CE --
Avatar and accidental grace in the later Puranas : 800 to 1500 CE --
Philosophical feuds in South India and Kashmir : 800 to 1300 CE --
Dialogue and tolerance under the Mughals : 1500 to 1700 CE --
Hinduism under the Mughals : 1500 to 1700 CE --
Caste, class, and conversion under the British Raj : 1600 to 1900 CE --
Suttee and reform in the twilight of the Raj : 1800 to 1947 CE --
Hindus in America : 1900- --
The past in the present : 1950- --
Inconclusion, or The abuse of history.

Abstract:

A narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, this book elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. Hinduism does not lend itself easily to a strictly chronological account: many of its central texts cannot be reliably dated; its central tenets--karma, dharma, to name just two--arise at particular moments in Indian history and differ in each era, between genders, and caste to caste; and what is shared among Hindus is overwhelmingly outnumbered by the things that are unique to one group or another. Yet the greatness of Hinduism--its vitality, its earthiness, its vividness--lies precisely in many of those idiosyncratic qualities that continue to inspire debate today. Wendy Doniger, one of the world's foremost scholars of Hinduism, illuminates those moments within the tradition that resist forces that would standardize or establish a canon.--Publisher description.

Misses the Mark in every Way

The book is replete with errors on every page - methodological, factual and interpretational. Just to give a few examples:

1. In chapter 5, she claims that the [Rig]Veda has no Shudra gods. Not only is it anachronistic to talk of Varnas of Gods, her claim is quite incorrect. ...Read more...

The book is replete with errors on every page - methodological, factual and interpretational. Just to give a few examples:

1. In chapter 5, she claims that the [Rig]Veda has no Shudra gods. Not only is it anachronistic to talk of Varnas of Gods, her claim is quite incorrect. According to Shatapatha Brahmana 11.2.7.16; 6.4.4.13, the devatas are also divided into four castes and Pushan is given the Shudra caste.

2. In chapter 8, she claims that that the Hindus never had anything beyond 3 worlds in their cosmological conceptions. This overlooks the widely pervasive concept of Saptalokas, and also the 14 realms and so on.

3. In chapter 19, she claims that Humayun ruled from 1530-1556. He ruled from 1533-1540 and for a few months in 1555-1556.

4. In chapter 20, she claims that Tulsidas wrote his Ramcharitmanas in Varanasi. But according to the tradition, it was written in Ayodhya.

The book is full of discussions on her favorite topics - sex, rape (mostly imaginary), drugs, liquor, violence (mostly imaginary) and other kinds of sleeze. She has treated Hindus as subjects of a racist anthropological enquiry and has made hundreds of offensive and demeaning remarks against them and their traditions.

The book has either not been proof-read, or careless edited or the author was ignorant. Even maps are full of errors.

The book has four maps immediately after the Index. Unfortunately, the maps are full of errors. We point some of these errors below:

1.In the first map (‘India’s Major Geographical Features’), the Waziristan Hills area is marked erroneously as ‘Kirthar Range’, which is actually several hundred miles further south.

2.In the second map (‘India from 2500 BCE to 600 CE), Kashmir is marked north of the river Indus (it should be south of Indus); Baluchistan is marked at the boundary between Sindh and Punjab whereas it is further west; Magadha is marked in northern Orissa and the bordering areas of Bihar (it should be further north, just south of the Ganga); Mithila is marked a bit north-west of its actual location and so on.

3.In the third map (‘India from 600 CE to 1600 CE), at least four historical sites are marked several hundred miles from their correct geographical location – Janakpur, Nagarkot, Mandu and Haldighati.

4.In the fourth map (‘India from 1600 CE to the Present’), Kanpur is indicated as the modern name of the ancient city of Kanauj. This is incorrect and the two cities are distinct from each other.

Then, the bibliography has items that cannot be traced (because they do not exist or because the references are full of typos). For eg,

“Purva-mimamsa-sutra. Jaiminiya-mimamsa-bhashyam of Shabaraswamin. Hirayana: Ramlal Kapar, 1986.” The correct place of publication is ‘Sonepat, Haryana’ (not ‘Hirayana’), and the publisher’s correct name is ‘Ramlal Kapoor Trust’. This work came out in several volumes printed over several years.

Many journal article references are incorrect. For instance, “Shekhawat, V. “Origin and Structure of purushartha Theory: An attempt at Critical Appraisal.” Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Rsearch 7:1 (1900), 63-67.” The correct issue and year of this journal issue are actually 8:2 and 1991.

The fact that she either does not understand or ignores the spiritual core of Hindu culture almost completely clearly shows that she has missed her mark in every way. The book is not even history (let alone an 'alternative' history). It is bogus fiction, it is HerStory.